Who could have imagined back in January when I was making plans for the year, all these exciting plans Covid-19 was going to hit the entire planet like a big scary germ ridden zombie and change everything over night? I will never forget March 23rd 2020. The day I lost a years work over night! All my bookings for events, weddings and my wholesale income gone. Like that. Pretty much in the same amount of time it took to write this sentence. The feeling of panic and not knowing what to do, close, open, right, wrong. I had nightmares about having to hand the keys back to everything I had worked for for so long.

SO I PIVOTED. HARD.

Over night I started concentrating solely on posting super duper treats all over the UK, I couldn’t believe how busy it was, and I was so so happy! I had planned to become a fully postal business from the start of 2020 and it was going to be a slow considered process but here it was, literally over night and it was SO intense. Starting something new when when ingredients were hard to come by, working in full PPE, scared to death of becoming unwell or even worse making someone else ill. I was working the longest hours on my own as an absolute workaholic I was loving it!

BUT ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END.

Before we knew it the government was starting things up and over night and orders started to dry up. A billion “brownie” businesses seemed to pop up over night, flooding my social feed with “deals” and “specials” offering every multi pack chocolate available in Asda shoved into a brownie (hello Kinder Hippos). I couldn’t compete with this and in all honesty I didn’t want to. 5 years of trading and learning, coming up with my own exclusive recipes, not to mention paying massive insurances, tax, rents and training bills not only means I was not in a financial position to do this I wasn’t in the head space to do so either.

STEPPING BACK

To be honest I was exhausted, I decided to go back to what I do best - sending out my own inventions. The Brownie Corndog, Wagonish Wheels and even came up with a range of Twinkies. I was taking autonomy back and going back to the bare bones of what I always wanted my business to be. Original. Creative. Fun. Individual. My amazing, loyal customers were buying every week and my stock was selling out. I felt like I was finally doing what I always wanted to do.

THEN I BROKE MY ANKLE

Yep, that fickle finger of fate stepped in and while putting the recycling out, absolutely knackered after another day in the kitchen I fell over a 10cm wall - hilarious right? It felt like going back to March 23rd all over again, only this time there was no getting away from the fact all my usual tactics were off the table. I dragged myself about getting orders out knowing that it was going to be the last bit of baking I did for a while. As I write this I am still sat in my cast. 3 weeks to go …

MOVING FORWARD

This time has really given me time to reflect. Time I wouldn’t usually have had, while a lot of people had lots of “lockdown thinking time” that wasn’t a luxury afforded to me. IT’S BEEN BRILLIANT! All this time to think and plan and work ON the business. Here just for you is that plan for the future for Lil’s Parlour.

I’m now 100% concentrating on being a postal, e comm business. That means I’ll be turning my workshop into a baking, picking and packing PALACE. That sadly means no more “big cakes” but being tagged on local business pages for a “cheap cake” was never really my bag anyway. Don’t worry I’ll still be doing some pop up open days once it’s safe. I absolutely love meeting my customers face to face.
Working hard on my packaging and presentation to produce a range of high end, postable, giftable goodies you will be proud to send or receive. I know this hasn’t been my strong point, my presentation needs to be better .. it’s something I really want to work on.
More “in stock” products on the website. I have always made everything to order which has meant long lead times. I am working on a range of products with a longer shelf life that will be “in stock” all of the time and available for delivery within 2-3 working days.
More collabs - as an indie business myself I LOVE working with other indie businesses during lockdown I was so lucky to work with Niomi from Foggish and Collette from The Paper Lobster. From September I will releasing a monthly subscription box and every single month it will contain a different product from another indie biz as well as baked goods. Give me a shout if you would like to be involved! It doesn’t have to be edible, just wonderful, whimsical and individual.
More recipes! One of the best parts of the Coronacoaster has been publishing some of my recipe PDFS. I am using my ankle downtime to write my very first published hold in your hand recipe pamphlet .. and yep .. it’s CHRRRRRISSSSTMAS themed!
I still want to be involved with your weddings! One of the saddest parts of the Coronacoaster so far for me was losing my wedding bookings, luckily all my couples have rolled over their dates for next year. I am still happy to design big, bold, brash wedding cakes .. but can also be involved in your special day designing a range of “bespoke treats” packages .. corndog for every guest with their name on it as a table setting? YAASSSSS.

FINALLY

This amazing mural says everything I need to say about the business moving forward. I want to take this chance to thank ALL of you for buying, supporting, sharing, cheerleading and most of all holding me up. This business would be nothing without my customers and moving forward I will continue to run the business based on kindness, respect, inclusivity. Everyone is welcome in our gang. Long may it continue.

Lucy oxox

p.s the best place to find up to the minute updates is by following me on Instagram.